Magical Genetics
by aconsultingwizard
Summary: This follows the story of a muggleborn and a squib as they journey through Hogwarts. Set in the Trio's time but without the Trio (Does that make sense? Is that AU?)
1. Chapter 1

A/N Disclaimer : I don't own Harry Potter

Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) History of Magic (Assignment 8)

Prompt: Write about a squib discovering their lack of magic

Word count: 1,004(ish)

* * *

><p>I'm still awake, even though everyone else is asleep. The whole house is quiet, the only sign of life in the whole neighbourhood is a cat that slinks across the road in the amber glow of the streetlights. I'm waiting, like I've waited every night for the last month. Most nights I've drifted off to sleep, unable to keep my eyes open, but tonight I will stay awake. This is the last night. Tomorrow is July 31st and my letter still hasn't come. My sister's letter came in the first week of July, and my brother's came on the second day.<p>

I've never done any magic but my mother always said that once I got to Hogwarts it would all be fine. My letter has to come, it_ has _to. I won't be able to bear it if it doesn't come, I _have _to go. My parents met each other at Hogwarts and now both my siblings are there. I can't be the only one not to go. It's not fair, I know I would be a great witch, I would make my parents proud. If I can't go to Hogwarts what is left for me? I'll never be happy here, in this world without magic, this boring, ordinary world.

But, as the sky turns pink and the sun appears behind the houses opposite ours I know it's not coming. I'm a _squib._ The word sounds dirty, even unspoken in my mind. I have failed my family, have ruined everything.

I throw myself down on the bed and sob, burying my face in the pillow and let my shoulders heave with misery and despair.

* * *

><p>I didn't realise how hard it would be to come to Diagon Alley. This should have been <em>my <em>time. _My _first year, my parents should be buying _my _uniform, _my_ books. My mother said I could stay home but I thought it would be better to come. I could still be a part of the Wizarding world even if I didn't fit in but now I realise that was a mistake.

Everyone else here has a purpose, hundreds of people bustling around, buying new robes and cloaks, books and wands. Today there are many young people my own age, preparing for their first year.

I have to force myself to rush past Ollivander's. I had been looking forward to buying my own wand, dreaming about what it would look like, what it would feel like. But now I know there will be no wand, I will never feel the magic tingling through me.

We all split up, my brother and sister going off to buy their school supplies, my mother to look for new robes and my father looks in on his friends in the Leaky Cauldron. I am left alone, left to wander by myself.

My favourite shop is Flourish & Blotts, the bookshop. I shuffle past the school books, trying to ignore the children who rush about, clutching their acceptance letters. I find my way to the back of the shop and sit with my back against one of the towering spirals of books. I select a large dusty volume and open it.

I am disturbed only once. Usually no one comes back here, but as I shift and turn the page a girl stumbles into my corner. She knocks a few books off the shelf and gasps. When they tumble onto my head she shrieks.

"I'm so sorry! Oh my gosh are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"I was just exploring and then I was so shocked to see you and then..."

She babbles on for a while until she realises I am not listening. I don't mean to be rude but she talks quickly, and it is difficult not to be resentful of her. She talks quickly and I gather she is a muggleborn, just about to start her first year at Hogwarts. It is hard to be jealous though, when she is so apologetic and kind. She has just asked me whether I will attend Hogwarts and I am wondering how to answer her when an old woman pokes her head round another pile of books.

"Annabel? It's time to go."

She jumps up and waves cheerfully at me.

"Bye!"

As she bounces off I smile a little and turn back to my book.

My mother finds me, hours later, still engrossed in my book. She smiles, and I know it is because for the first time in days I am happy.

* * *

><p>This is it. I'm not going. I'm standing on the platform watching everyone else clamber aboard the train. A great sense of loss fills me but I shake it off, determined not to cry. I try to be helpful, carrying my sister's suitcase and cheerfully waving to my siblings as they board the train.<p>

When my parents are not looking I jump onto the train. I just want to stand on it, to be part of things for a moment. I am about to climb down when the girl from the book shop runs over.

"Hi! Will you sit with me? There are so many people, I was a little lost." She laughs and I smile back, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry, I-I can't go to Hogwarts"

She look at me with a confused expression buy before she can ask me any questions the clock strikes eleven and the train whistle blows and we are on our way.

_ I am going to Hogwarts! _

I am going! Almost immediately though I am filled with fear. What will happen when I get there? I don't belong there. I will be sent home again, sent home in disgrace. This is a mistake, an awful mistake and now I am rushing away from home to a place where I have no purpose, no hope of fitting in.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Disclaimer : I don't own Harry Potter

Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) Major & Minor Arcana (Assignment 8)

Prompt: Starting Hogwarts school in the first year.

Word count: 1,138(ish)

* * *

><p>It's crazy! I can't believe what is happening! A woman is standing in my living room, telling my parents about a new school she wants me to go to. But this isn't any school, it's called Hogwarts and it's a magical school! I thought the woman was insane at first, and Daddy wouldn't let her in the house, but she took a stick out of her pocket and somehow changed Mummy's tomato plants into a rosebush!<p>

It's what I've always dreamed of in the far fetched corners of my imagination. I'm special, _magical! _Mummy and Daddy _have _to let me go!

I sit beside my parents on the sofa and the woman hands me a letter. As I study it she introduces herself.

"I am Professor McGonagall, the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts."

* * *

><p>We are walking along a little street called Diagon Alley. Professor McGonagall has brought me here so I can buy my school things, and for once in my life I am speechless. There are lots of little shops all filled with magical items. We visit a bank, where a <em>goblin <em>changes my money for a few large coins, and a clothes shop where I am fitted with robes. I buy a beautiful wand, made of thin willow wood and unicorn hair, and when I swish it about little red sparks float away.

Then we go into a big shop filled with cauldrons and other strange things. I buy a telescope and a set of scales and a crystal ball, each parcel somehow hidden away in Professor McGonagall's bag. Finally we get to a bookshop and she leaves me to buy my schoolbooks while she goes off to meet someone.

I purchase my books and then go exploring, looking to see what strange books I can find. There are huge shelves filled with books and towering spirals made up of even more books. Books are stacked up in every available space. It's wonderful.

I'm peering around a bookshelf into a dark corner and I bump into a pile of books. I gasp as they all topple to the ground and then cry out in alarm when I realise there is a girl sitting there. She pushes the books off her lap and I rush to apologise.

Whenever I'm nervous I can't help talking. I just can't shut up. The other girl looks about the same age as me and I'm desperate to know who she is and whether she will be at school with me, but just as I step back to let her answer all of my excited questions Professor McGonagall appears and says we have to go.

* * *

><p>The weeks before I leave for Hogwarts crawl by. I read through some of my schoolbooks and daydream about what the wizarding world will be like. I will be sorry to be away from home for so long, but my excitement far outweighs and fears I have.<p>

However, now that I am here, standing on platform 9¾, my fear overwhelms me. My parents and I stand alone on the platform while everyone else around us hurries about. People push trolleys laden with suitcases and owl cages, using words I have never heard before, and everywhere there is magic. I know that the expression of bewilderment that I can see on my parents' faces is mirrored on my own. The train itself is gorgeous, a traditional steam engine painted scarlet, and even though I'm terrified I can't wait to set off.

I wave to my parents and promise to write as soon as I get there and then, nervously looking at my watch, jump onto the train.

As I look around I realise that Everyone else is walking together in little groups chatting about their holidays. I stand uselessly, unsure of what to do. Suddenly I see the girl from the bookshop.

I smile at her and invite her to sit with me but she just looks at me nervously. I wonder if she is like me, a muggleborn, or maybe deaf.

She stammers something but I don't hear her because just then the whistle blows and she turns pale. I smile at her sympathetically and as she still seems shocked I lead her to an empty compartment.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes. I'm Katie. You're Annabel right?"

"Yes. Are you afraid of going? I've never been away from home for so long before."

"She looks at me almost scornfully and laughs a little.

"No, I'm not scared."

She seems to get over her shock and we sit down together. She's not a muggleborn, so she knows all about Hogwarts and tells me all about it.

When the snack trolley comes by we buy several sweets with odd names and then eventually I change into my robes.

* * *

><p>Once we get off the train we are greeted by a huge man who leads us to a fleet of small boars. Katie and I climb aboard one and we're joined by two other first years. The boats glide across the lake by themselves which allows us to sit and watch as we approach the castle. It's beautiful, lit up against the night sky, and I'm almost sad to leave the boats behind. As soon as we step into the castle everyone begins whispering.<p>

The hall is silenced when Professor McGonagall appears. She leads us through the great doors into the most amazing room I have ever seen. There is no ceiling. The walls appear to stretch up into the night sky and candles float just above our heads. The whole place seems to sparkle. Four tables stretch along the hall, each filled with older students. We walk in twos along the hall, all of us too awestruck to whisper.

Professor McGonagall calls us up in alphabetical order and places a hat on the heads of the confused students. The hat calls out a name for each student (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw) and they scuttle off to their table. Soon she calls my name, "Brown, Annabel" and I make my way up to the front.

I can feel everyone's eyes on me so it's a relief when the hat falls over my eyes. Suddenly a voice starts whispering in my head and I realise the hat is talking to me.

_"Hmm... very interesting. I see great braver in you indeed but perhaps you would do better elsewhere. I think... **Hufflepuff**!"_

I walk over to the table where students with yellow trimmed robes are clapping wildly. I smile awkwardly and sit down with them.

I am here, part of a new world, and it is better than I could ever have imagined.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) Magical Objects & Their Uses (Assignment 8)

Prompt:Consider the theme of desire. I want you to think of a character, and what they would see in the mirror, and write about it. It is up to you whether you choose to allow the person's desires to come true, or not. For example, you could write about Umbridge's deepest desire to be beautiful. You do not HAVE to use the Mirror in your story, but you are welcome to.

Word count: 908(ish)

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><p>I stand before Professor Dumbledore, reeling from the events of the past few hours. I, through some slip of fate, have come to Hogwarts. I am a <em>squib. <em>I don't belong here. It was an accident, me being on the train, and now I'm scared as I watch Professor Dumbledore. _Am I in trouble? _However, he looks at me kindly and asks me gently who I am and what I'm doing here.

I tell him, and try to explain how I only wanted to see what it felt like to stand on the train, and I never meant to come here. He listens to me patiently and when I am done he turns to the window. He sends an owl with a letter to my parents and then turns back to me.

I realise with a sinking feeling that soon my parents will be here and I will have to go home. My adventure will be over and then I will have to learn to live without magic, to live like a muggle, a disgrace to my family. My eyes well up with tears as Professor Dumbledore offers me a lemon drop.

All I want is to be a part of this world. I wish I had magic, wish more than anything that I could have magic, have a rightful place at the school, to be a part of a House and to have friends and learn to control magic. And even if I can't have magic I wish I could have a place here, have something to do, some way to be useful to the wizarding world. I wish with all my heart that I belonged here.

I watched the first years earlier and now, waiting for my parents to come an take me away, I dream that I am among them. I would walk up the hall proudly, taking in the enchanted ceiling and the carefree conversations that fill the hall with noise. The legendary sorting hat would be placed on my head and call out my house. Gryffindor perhaps, or Ravenclaw. Maybe Hufflepuff, or even Slytherin. Then I would have a new home and new friends.

Tears come to my eyes again and Professor Dumbledore puts a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"I am sorry my dear. Is there anything I can do?"

_Nothing can be done. _I'm a squib, a nobody. All I want is to belong but I can't. I will never feel at home in the muggle world but I will also never belong in the wizarding world. I am doomed to forever know about this magical world but never allowed to be a part of it.

Suddenly a wave of emotion rushes through me and I sob loudly. The headmaster looks at me sympathetically and I try and control myself.

"I-I'm sorry P-professor Dumbledore. I j-just want to belong. I just w-want to have a h-home here." I gasp and sniffle and he hands me a handkerchief.

"I j-just wish I could be a witch. Just w-wish I could be like all of you."

Professor Dumbledore looks at Professor McGonagall, the deputy headmistress who has been standing in the corner of the room, and then looks at me.

"I think maybe we can do something about that."

"Albus." Her voice is sharp and I can hear her disapproval.

"Minerva there is too much prejudice in our world. This is the least we can do to try and help." He turns to me. "Katie, how would you like to stay here, at Hogwarts?"

My breath catches and I look at him, suddenly filled with hope.

"I would love that more than anything sir! I would do _anything, _anything I could! I could help the house elves cook, or clean, or help in the library or the hospital wing!"

His eyes twinkle. "We will see what we can do. We'll have to talk to your parents of course."

I am suddenly impatient for my parents to arrive. I spend the time until they arrive flickering between excitement and dread. When they finally arrive, flooing into the headmaster's private fireplace I rush over to them and pull them into a hug. Professor McGonagall takes me off to the kitchens to try and find some food as I had no dinner, leaving Dumbledore to talk to my parents.

* * *

><p>I am the happiest girl in the world! My parents have agreed to let me stay at Hogwarts! To be honest, I think they were relieved when Dumbledore offered to keep me here as they would have no idea how to send me to a muggle school. They've gone home now with a list of things I will need.<p>

Professor Dumbledore doesn't know yet what I will do, but for now I'm happy just to know I'm staying. He says I can attend some of the classes that don't require magic: Ancient Runes and Astronomy and so on. I can help out with other things and perhaps one day I will be able to work here. I know the caretaker and the grounds keeper can't use magic so perhaps there could be a place here for me.

It's incredible. A week ago I could never have even dreamed of being here and now I am happy, and can see a positive future for myself.


End file.
